Bears Draft Gopher Brock Vereen In 4th Round

Carey was chosen with the 17th pick of the fourth round, 117th overall, and Vereen was 131st.

The 5-foot-9, 207-pound Carey skipped his senior year to come out for the draft. He was chosen the Pac-12 offensive player of the year and finished with 22 100-yard rushing games and an average of 117.8 yards rushing per game.

The 6-foot, 199-pound Vereen is the brother of New England Patriots running back Shane Vereen. He played both cornerback and safety for Minnesota. Vereen started 36 games and made four interceptions while breaking up 22 passes.

The Bears traded this year’s fifth-round pick and a fifth-rounder in 2015 to Denver for the 31st pick of Round 4 to take Vereen and also received the Broncos’ seventh-round pick in this draft.

Carey, who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds, is best known for his quick bursts of power. He had more than 300 carries each of his final two seasons. Carey finished with 4,239 rushing yards and caught 77 passes for 679 yards.

Matt Forte is the starting Bears running back, but the team lacks a proven backup after cutting veteran Michael Bush for salary cap concerns.

Chicago had taken cornerback Kyle Fuller of Virginia Tech in Round 1 and selected defensive tackles in Rounds 2 and 3 Friday: Ego Ferguson of LSU, and Will Sutton of Arizona State.

Drafting Carey gives the Bears both the offensive and defensive Pac-12 players of the year. Sutton was named the top defensive player last season.

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